Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts

Thomas Aquinas on Nature/Grace and Faith/Reason (Videos)

Yesterday was the feast of St. Thomas Aquinas (awesome dude!), and so I thought it would be apropos to post some videos on him and his thinking.  The first one, from Taylor Marshall, speaks about Thomas's insight into human nature regarding how grace builds on nature - we're good, but fallen, and grace is what transforms, perfects, and strengthens us.  Yesterday I posted about serving for Pope Francis and how the experience made me realize - you know - the humanness of our Holy Father, and thus that we need to pray for him, and so the video seemed to be especially fitting.  The second one is from Fr. Barron and shows why Thomas's thought still is hugely important today because: (1) he shows that all truth is one - that thus faith and revelation are not only compatible with reason and science, but that they work together, and strengthen each other, (2) his proof of God based on contingency - that things rely on other things for their existence, but that at some point we have to reach some non-contingent, non-created, non-limited "thing" (which is God) or else nothing would exist at all, and (3) Thomas's explanation of us as human - and how that humanity was transformed by the incarnation of Christ, and thus makes Christian humanism, our view of the goodness of man, above that of any secular thinker.  This also goes along with stuff happening in my life - especially the material I'm studying in fundamental theology regarding faith, reason, revelation, the church (and other such important things...), as well as a fascinating conversation I had yesterday with some guys about what Christ would have known  (being both fully human and fully divine), and how that might "work" now that he has a glorified body (a topic that then went into the existence of matter outside of time and quantum states and stuff - it was great, science and faith together!) 

Enjoy!  And keep me in your prayers!
 
Back to paper writing (on modern biblical scholarship: specifically the last 200 years or so of work on understanding the formation of the Pentateuch) and studying (for Fundamental Theology)  It's so cool, I'm studying theology!
Read More
, , , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comments

Encyclical on Faith - Lumen Fidei

Well, as promised, the encyclical on faith, which was written partly by Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI and partly by Pope Francis, has been released (or published, or promulgated - whatever it is called). 

Link: Lumen Fidei

I (obviously) haven't read the entire thing yet, but I did see this great quote:

Talking about how in modern times Faith has been relegated to a lesser status than say science, or rational knowledge, and how people see it as soft or subjective (those are my own words - obviously read what the Pope actually wrote...):

"There is an urgent need, then, to see once again that faith is a light, for once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim. The light of faith is unique, since it is capable of illuminating every aspect of human existence. A light this powerful cannot come from ourselves but from a more primordial source: in a word, it must come from God. Faith is born of an encounter with the living God who calls us and reveals his love, a love which precedes us and upon which we can lean for security and for building our lives. Transformed by this love, we gain fresh vision, new eyes to see; we realize that it contains a great promise of fulfilment, and that a vision of the future opens up before us. Faith, received from God as a supernatural gift, becomes a light for our way, guiding our journey through time."
 
[Lumen Fidei - paragraph 4] - my emphasis in bold
Read More
, , , , , , , , , , 1 Comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)